President Trump dramatically intensified his trade confrontation with Canada on Monday, announcing that tariffs on Canadian vehicles, auto parts and steel will rise to 50% beginning Jan. 1, 2027, while declaring that America’s northern neighbor no longer deserves his tongue-in-cheek consideration as a potential 51st state.
The escalation came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney characterized the increasingly bitter trade dispute between the longtime allies as a “war.”
“Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years. Their ridiculously high tariffs on our Farmers and farm products has made life impossible for these great American Patriots, and has long created a 60 Billion Dollar Deficit between our two Countries. Not sustainable, and NOT ANYMORE!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said the next major round of tariffs will take effect at the beginning of the new year, raising duties on Canadian automobiles, automotive components and steel to 50%. He also revived his repeated references to Canada becoming America’s 51st state — this time to announce that the country had forfeited that distinction.
“Canada will be treated like a State no longer! On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with. They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US! They do 95% of their business with the U.S., with us, the exact opposite!,” Trump wrote.
The latest threat follows another major tariff move by the Trump administration over the weekend. On Saturday, the United States imposed 50% duties on a range of Canadian imports, including beer, cheese and electronics, after negotiations between Washington and Ottawa failed to produce a trade agreement.
Canada has already promised to retaliate. Carney announced that his government will impose counter-tariffs on American products beginning Sept. 8, signaling that Ottawa has no intention of backing down as the dispute widens.
“We were attacked. You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” he said Saturday. “That’s fine. We’ve got the reserves. We’ve got the resilience. We’ve got the plan. We’ve got the focus. We will respond.”
The Canadian retaliation is expected to target several major American industries, including steel, dairy, agricultural equipment, and pulp and paper. Carney said Ottawa intends to respond on a “dollar for dollar” basis to Washington’s measures.
With neither government showing signs of retreating, officials on both sides have accused the other of preventing negotiators from reaching an agreement.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who has been heading the American negotiations, said Canadian officials were demanding concessions Washington was unwilling to provide.
“I think there were things that the Canadians just — you know, they wanted more,” he told CNBC on Monday morning.
Carney, who has increasingly sought to portray himself as prepared to confront Trump and defend Canadian economic interests, offered essentially the opposite assessment of why the negotiations collapsed.
“They asked too much and offered too little,” he said.
